Two day work week

1. Short work week

My schedule is all over the place but this week it is pretty fabulous.  I am only working Monday and Tuesday evening.  I am starting to get more settled at CHN.  I have so much to learn and every day I am continuing to make progress -- even if it's painstakingly slow.  I am looking forward to spending LOTS of quality time with my family this weekend.  The boys are missed but I am excited that they will be here for our Christmas celebrations.

2. Family photos

This year we had Mer quickly take some photos for our family.  SBJ was a tired mess but overall things turned out ok.  Here are some of my favorites.  Clearly -- we can still not get everyone to look at the camera and smile BUT that's our life -- so I guess that is what we should document.  Grateful that Mer worked her magic.

I love this picture because it shows their personalities pretty well.  Cameron is my free spirit off in his own world, Jack is a bit bat shit crazy, and Owen prefers to be in charge and not have the shenanigans.

This is one of my favorites from the day.  Oh how my boys melt my heart.

3.  Amy Milligan
This lady makes me feel normal. She helps to validate that though I might be pretty intense -- it's ok.  Amy oriented me on MRO 9 years ago and since then she has consistently been a sounding board for me.  I can vent, ask style advice, or just BE with her.  Monday her and Charlotte came over first thing in the morning to catch up.  I think that these playdates need to happen a LOT more.  We talked for few hours and followed the kids from room to room while they played.  When she left I felt more secure in who I was and in the decisions that I make about life.  I also feel pretty excited about having her help with ideas for my future kitchen remodel.  I am so thankful for my friendship with Amy.

4. Christmas shopping....getting done
We have almost all of our Christmas shopping for the boys completed.  Now I need to work on ideas for the relatives.  Grateful that we not only have most of this marked off our "TO-DO" list but grateful that we have the ability to buy gifts and not stress or worry.

5.  The twins are continuing to learn to write
Most things come home written in spanish but I absolutely love the work that comes home in English.  I am sure that they are slightly behind the normal first grader but I don't mind.  On Friday this came home with Cameron.  I now get how parents have boxes of their child's work.  ....Don't worry -- I don't -- but I get it.